5101:2-5-25
Changing the certification of a foster caregiver from one type of foster home to another.

(A)
No child placed
in a family foster home on or before March 31, 2005 shall be moved to another
placement solely because of the failure of the foster caregiver to meet the
requirements for treatment or medically fragile foster homes found in this
chapter or in Chapter 5101:2-7 of the Administrative Code.

(B)
An agency shall recommend a foster
caregiver be certified to operate only one type of foster home at a time. A
foster home may accept a foster child that is assessed as needing care at or
below the level of care for which the home is certified.

(C)
Whenever a foster caregiver who is
certified to operate a foster home wishes to seek to change the foster home's
certification to another type of certification, the foster caregiver shall
submit a written request to the recommending agency.

(D)
lf a foster caregiver
seeks
to change the foster home's certification to a treatment foster home or a
medically fragile foster home, the agency shall determine if the foster
caregiver meets the qualifying experience requirements contained in paragraph
(A) of rule
5101:2-7-16 or
5101:2-7-17 of the
Administrative Code. If the foster caregiver meets those requirements, the
agency shall proceed as in paragraph (E) of this rule. If the foster caregiver
does not meet those requirements, the agency shall not proceed with the foster
caregiver's request. Failure of a foster caregiver to prove to the recommending
agency's satisfaction that the foster caregiver meets the qualifying experience
requirements of paragraph (A) of rule
5101:2-7-16 or
5101:2-7-17 of the
Administrative Code does not constitute denial of certification and is not
subject to appeal pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

(1)
The agency shall ensure that all
the preplacement training requirements of a foster
caregiver contained in rule
5101:2-5-33 of the
Administrative Code have beencompleted prior to
recommending the home to the Ohio department of job and family services (ODJFS)
for another type of certification.

(2)
Pursuant to sections
5103.032,
5103.033 and
5103.039 of the Revised Code, a
recommending agency shall not approve a waiver of any preplacement training
requirements for the first certification of the new type of foster home.

(3)
Notwithstanding paragraphs
(E)(1) and (E)(2) of this rule, pursuant to Section (3) of Substitute House
Bill 332 as enacted by the 123rd Ohio General
Assembly, a foster caregiver holding a valid family foster home certificate on
January 1, 2001 shall not be required to meet the additional preplacement
training requirements of paragraphs (C)(3) and (C)(7) of rule
5101:2-5-33 of the
Administrative Code.

(4)
Training
that may be considered as meeting either a requirement for preplacement
training for a specialized foster caregiver or a requirement for continuing
training for a family foster caregiver, may be counted as meeting either
requirement, even though the caregiver may be certified to operate only one
type of foster home at a time.

(5)
At the discretion of the recommending agency, for a currently certified foster
caregiver who is seeking to change the type of foster home for which the
caregiver is certified, preplacement or continuing training courses
successfully completed within the most recent three year period from the date
of the caregiver's written request to the agency to be certified as a different
type of foster home, may be counted towards meeting the preplacement
requirements for the new type of foster home.

(6)
When the change in type of foster home
certification takes place during a foster caregiver's certification period, if
the foster home's certification designation is changing from a certification
designation that has more stringent requirements to a certification designation
that has less stringent requirements, the new certification period for the
foster home shall be until the end of the caregiver's current certification
period.

(7)
If the foster home's
certification designation is recommended to change from a certification
category that has less stringent requirements to a certification category that
has more stringent requirements, the new certification period will be for two
years, effective from the date ODJFS receives the JFS 01317 "Recommendation for
Certification/Recertification of a Foster Home" (rev. 1/2003) recommending the
change.

(8)
When the agency
recommends that a foster caregiver's certification be changed to another type
of foster home, the recommendation shall be submitted as a change to ODJFS on
the JFS 01317. The ODJFS uniform statewide automated child welfare database
resource identification number shall remain the same as the previous
identification number.